Chandigarh, April 4 -- The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case in connection with a large-scale alleged fraud in medical reimbursement claims under the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS), exposing what investigators describe as a "systematic and organised racket" involving private healthcare entities, intermediaries, and suspected collusion by officials. The case has been registered against Dr Vikas Sharma and Dr Rimple Gupta, directors of M/s Manthan Health Care, along with Dharam Hospital, Kare Partner Heart Centre, and several other individuals, including Manjeet Singh and Parveen Kumar. The role of unknown ECHS officials is also under the scanner. According to the CBI, credible source information revealed that the accused had devised a mechanism to fraudulently generate and process reimbursement claims by exploiting loopholes in the ECHS system. The modus operandi allegedly involved misusing "emergency admission" provisions to bypass standard referral protocols, manipulating referral systems to channel patients into select hospitals, fabricating medical records, prescriptions, and diagnostic reports, besides inflating treatment costs and pharmacy bills to claim higher reimbursements. Investigators say ECHS beneficiaries were systematically identified and routed through intermediaries to empanelled hospitals, where admissions were frequently projected as emergency cases without adequate medical justification, thereby enabling higher reimbursement claims. Acting on the inputs, a joint surprise check was conducted on February 24, 2026, at Manthan Health Care in Sector 38 and Dharam Hospital in Sector 15, Chandigarh, in the presence of ECHS vigilance officials. During the operation, officials seized a large number of incriminating materials, including patient files and emergency/referral documents, blank letterheads, hospital stamps, digital signature credentials, WhatsApp chats indicating coordination and storage devices containing records from 2018 to 2026. Notably, documents linked to other hospitals in Chandigarh were also recovered, prompting the CBI to expand the scope of the investigation. The probe found that M/s Manthan Health Care, which is not empanelled under ECHS, was allegedly operating in active collusion with Dharam Hospital, an empanelled facility. The ECHS desk of Dharam Hospital was effectively being run from the premises of Manthan Health Care. Investigators recovered official stamps, blank letterheads, and digital signature credentials of Dharam Hospital, including those purportedly belonging to Dr Ajay Kumar Aggarwal from the Manthan office. The claims were being processed and submitted on the ECHS portal in the name of Dharam Hospital from the premises of Manthan Health Care, thereby indicating unauthorised diversion of a regulated hospital interface to a non-empanelled intermediary. Scrutiny of records revealed a pattern of repeated hospital admissions of ECHS beneficiaries often within short intervals and for similar ailments across a cluster of hospitals. Specific cases involving patients such as Hema Devi, Baldeo Ram, Tek Chand, and Sandhya Devi showed multiple admissions at Dharam Hospital, Kare Partner Heart Centre, and other private hospitals. CBI officials noted that such patterns "strongly indicate that hospitalisations were orchestrated for claim generation rather than genuine medical necessity." The investigation also uncovered large-scale fabrication of medical documents, including emergency admission papers, prescriptions, pathology reports, and discharge summaries. Signatures attributed to Dr Ajay Kumar Aggarwal appeared to be forged upon preliminary comparison, while several diagnostic reports were found to be fake, with laboratories and doctors denying having issued them. The recovery of blank letterheads of multiple hospitals and labs further points to a structured document fabrication mechanism, officials said. Evidence collected during the surprise check suggests the existence of a financial arrangement underpinning the fraud. Referral-based commission agreements were found with intermediaries, including Manjeet Singh. Payments allegedly included both fixed per-patient fees and a percentage of billed amounts. An unsigned MoU between Manthan Health Care and Dharam Hospital indicated a 50:50 revenue-sharing arrangement CBI said, "This reflects a commercially organised operation aimed at wrongful gain through fraudulent reimbursements." Crucially, WhatsApp chats retrieved during the search provide direct insight into the alleged conspiracy. Messages indicate prior coordination regarding admission and discharge timing, preparation and alteration of medical records and post facto fabrication of documents to support claims. These chats clearly show that records were tailored to fit reimbursement requirements, said CBI. The agency is also probing the role of ECHS officials, as the repeated approval of questionable emergency referrals and claims points to either active connivance or gross negligence. The case has been registered under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), and 471 (using forged documents) of the IPC, along with relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and BNS Act. The CBI has said the investigation will focus on unearthing the full extent of the conspiracy, identifying all beneficiaries, and tracing the diversion of government funds. The role of additional hospitals in Chandigarh will also be examined during the course of the probe. HT contacted Manthan Health Care, Dharam Hospital, and Kare Partner Heart Centre, but evoked no response....